Apple to its maps guy: Get lost!

After weeks of embarrassing fallout over its new and seriously misguided Maps App featured in the iPhone 5, Apple has reportedly fired the manager who oversaw the troubled software.

Longtime Apple employee Richard Williamson, who goes way back with former CEO Steve Jobs to his days at Next in the '80s and '90s, was given the boot by Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue, according to "people familiar with the move" quoted by Bloomberg News.

Williamson's head would not be the first to roll because of the Mapsgate debacle. After the Maps' inglorious launch in late September, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a public mea culpa over the program that, among other things, misidentified famous landmarks and sent users on wild and dead-ended goose chases. Then, in October, Cook sent longtime Apple exec and iOS chief Scott Forstall packing, reportedly for his failure to admit his Maps team had screwed up.

Williamson on Tuesday was still listed as an employee on his LinkedIn profile, and an Apple spokeswoman referred media inquires to the statement Cook issued in September that said the mapping software will improve as more customers use it and more data can be gathered.

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"We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make maps better," Cook said in the statement.

Contact Patrick May at 408-920-5689; follow him at Twitter.com/patmaymerc.